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Anne Rice renounces Christianity on Facebook

By Ray Rahman on Jul 29th, 2010  |  Comments (14)

Anne Rice - novelist - quits Chrisitianity

Anne Rice, queen of the '90s vampire craze (a trend that's recently back from the dead), announced on Facebook that she's quitting Christianity. Rice, the author of books featuring things like an adult woman trapped in the body five-year-old vampire girl who kills people for fun, used the social networking platform to express her qualms with the religion thusly:

I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group.

That snippet was from her first relatively lengthy (I had to click "See More") post to her Facebook fan page yesterday. But like any writer, she had more to say, so she followed that up with:

In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian.

This caught people's attention for a few reasons. For one, Rice made headlines in 2004 when a near-death experience prompted her to become a devout Roman Catholic, one that would "only write for the Lord." So that's something. There's also the fact that the bestselling author, who presumably has access to countless media outlets, chose to make her announcement via Facebook — her 2004 announcement was in a Newsweek article. Thirdly, my eyebrows were personally raised because I simply forgot that people still list things other than "yogurt" or "Betsey Johnson" on the religious views section of their Facebook pages.

 

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Comments ( 14 )

Betsey Johnson is certainly my religious pick.
Hotpinkskirt commented on Jul 29 10 at 2:06 pm
This makes me so happy. Has anyone read her Sleeping Beauty Trilogy?? I knew this Christianity kick was going to be short lived.
MissHayden commented on Jul 29 10 at 2:10 pm
She's kinda coming off as someone who'll do anything for some media attention.
Me commented on Jul 29 10 at 3:38 pm
I'm also really confused about how the Roman Catholic Church is "anti-life." That's kind of the opposite of one of its defining principles.... And calling Catholicism anti-science is basically poorly researched bandwagoning since Catholics believe in evolution. Sure, we imprisoned Galileo, but you could say the U.S. is pro-slavery by that logic.
Me commented on Jul 29 10 at 3:44 pm
Err...I thought being a follower of Christ means you are a Christian? Not necessarily associating with wackjobs? As in you can call yourself Christian while denouncing what other people who identify as Christian are doing. For someone who ostensibly has a command of language, she sure seems befuddled by the word "Christian."
N commented on Jul 29 10 at 3:53 pm
Love the can of Tab. The diet soft drink consumed by Beelzebub himself!
RVL commented on Jul 29 10 at 4:10 pm
Anne Rice??? Is she still around?
Julian commented on Jul 29 10 at 4:48 pm
the terms 'christianity' and 'christian' are so loaded down with baggage. I think it's very understandable how some christians try to jettison all the crap that is associated with 'christianity' in the popular media. I don't think this makes her a wackjob. I think it's very easy conceptually to identify with 'following christ' while rejecting what 'christianity' and many 'christians' espouse and advocate.
jim commented on Jul 29 10 at 6:22 pm
Can you still buy Tab?
Neil commented on Jul 29 10 at 6:45 pm
Interesting. I like her reasons very much. What's interesting to me is the depth of her explorations into Christianity and Catholicism through the vampire Lestat, who even got into fundamental Christianity. It was only a matter of time before she declared herself independent of the Catholic Church in particular for its rules and rites, and "Christianity" as it is often defined by what the 70s called "Born Again" Christianity--fundamental Christianity. If she starts her own church, I may consider exploring it... :)
Eleanore Miller commented on Jul 29 10 at 7:10 pm
Interesting. I like her reasons very much. What's interesting to me is the depth of her explorations into Christianity and Catholicism through the vampire Lestat, who even got into fundamental Christianity. It was only a matter of time before she declared herself independent of the Catholic Church in particular for its rules and rites, and "Christianity" as it is often defined by what the 70s called "Born Again" Christianity--fundamental Christianity. If she starts her own church, I may consider exploring it... :)
Eleanore Miller commented on Jul 29 10 at 7:10 pm
I can't tell if you're joking. I've never read any of her books, so I can't comment on that, but judging on her facebook updates, which I have to imagine would be a more accurate view of her own opinions and beliefs than a character in her novel, she has done a particularly poor job of deeply exploring Catholicism. There are many reasons to leave the Catholic Church, and she doesn't mention the biggest one--Catholicism's (and even the pope's) complicity with the pedophilia scandal. Catholics everywhere lost faith over that. Only someone who has done a particularly poor job of researching the Church would say it is anti-science, anti-life or anti-Democrat. Catholics acknowledge evolution and the scientific method, believe life is sacred and are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans. The Church condemns homosexuality (I am Catholic, but I don't) but accepts homosexuals just as it accepts all sinners, albeit with significantly more stigma. The Church can be a boy's club, but there are many ways in which women can participate. In fact, women tend to be more active than men as laymen. JP2 and Vatican II made artificial birth control a much more minor sin. And I don't think you can blame a religion for not being a fan of the first half of secular humanism. If Ann Rice starts a new religion, it will replace Scientology on the top of my Most Ridiculous, Least Meaningful Religions list.
@Eleanore commented on Jul 29 10 at 10:13 pm
Well, I am just going off of the above quote (which doesn't mention Catholicism). On the other hand, the church is culpable in propagating the pedophilia crisis, but many people very much enjoy the rich tradition, the liturgy, etc of Catholicism- these things are absent in the fundamentalist, 'born again' flavor of Christianity... re: anti-birth control, relegating it's use to a 'minor sin' is great, however many are extremely frustrated in the antagonism of many charities/NGOs in advocating birth control as part of a program to improve quality of life, women's rights, economies, etc in developing countries- arguably this has a much greater significance than whether or not Catholics think the use of bc is a minor or major sin imo.
jim commented on Jul 30 10 at 9:31 am
Anne Rice is the J.K. Rowling of the 90s.
Steve commented on Jul 30 10 at 11:14 am

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